CALLS OF THE WILD

Feb. 11 This day broke under dense ground fog but that soon burned off. No wind, no rain. Today I heard a Flicker giving his spring territorial call from atop a conifer. This is not single note “clear” call that you may hear any time of the year. This is the string of notes undulating in tone and pitch in a rapid, staccato series of twelve or more. This call drops out of the flickerly repertoire after breeding season ends.

Along with a wolf’s howl in darkness, a strangled scream from a Barn Owl, the harsh barking of sea lions and the bugling of a flock of Sandhill Cranes in flight, this call from a flicker is one of the signature sounds that comprise the call of the wild here in North America.

Shot through a window, two images of “our” Bewick’s Wren. In one he holds a seed from the feeder. First time I’ve seen him accept one of our menu items.

That pale-eyed Bushtit on the left is a female. This red-eyed critter below is male. His crazed look might be taken for a sign that he’s working part-time in the White House. Nice colors, whatever his shade of politics, huh?DEER RUN

While dog-walking and birding just at the edge of McMinnville yesterday we disturbed a herd of at least nine mule deer, all does. Seeing the dog the deer hurried up the hill behind the nearby houses and off to some dogless spot. My dog doesn’t even pay attention to deer anymore, hardly seems to even note the spore.In this one shot I got nearly all the does, eight can be seen.BED O’ LEAVES